A Grim Reminder
by PenguinPatrolerArmy
Summary: A series of one-offs and short stories full of sadness. (Character Deaths)
1. Eren I

"EREN!" Armin's cries were worried and frantic as he called for his friend. He and Mikasa had be searching for what seemed like hours.

They're friend had gone missing during an expedition. Not a trace of where he could of gone was left and a search party was sent out. But no luck of finding him so far. By this time the two had been separated from the group, lost their horses, and begun to run low on gas.

They were somewhere in the Forest of Giant Trees. The duo came across a clearing of damage that was most likely done by titans. Large footprints and broken tree limbs were scattered across the forest floor.

The two began to examine the site for any sign of Eren. _'I have high doubts that a normal titan did this much damage,' _Mikasa thought as she looked at the broken branches of the trees, _'it could have been...'_

"Mikasa! I found something!" Armin yelled. Mikasa ran over to her friend. He was looking behind a bush. He had an extra 3DM-Gear in his hands. "This gear is out of gas, and the blades are broken, Someone was using it!... Also I found this wrapped around one of the blades" Armin held up a gold key. Mikasa would recognize this key anywhere.

"That's the key to Eren's basement..." Mikasa stated, "But, why should he just leave it-"

**_"AAAAAAHAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGG!"_**

An agonizing scream interrupted the conversation between the two friends. The exchanged looks. Then the two friends ran as fast as they could in the direction of the sound. When they finally arrived at the source of the scream, they couldn't believe what they saw.

Eren, their best friend, was being chewed to death by a titan...

Almost immediately, Mikasa prepared to launched her gear to slice the nape of the titan.

"Mikasa, Wait!" Armin warned, "We have to get Eren out of it's mouth first... Otherwise we might be 'killing two birds with one arrow'..." Mikasa nodded in agreement. Armin launched his gear and grabbed Eren's body and Mikasa went in to slice the titans face. The Humanoid Howled in pain and Armin was able to pull Eren out of the mouth. Mikasa then sliced into the nape of the titan, Killing it. She ran towards her friends. Armin was trying his best to tend to Eren's wounds.

Blood was pouring out his head, and even more from the huge bite-mark in his stomach. His arm also looked twisted and was probably broken. Eren was in the worst condition possible at the worst time possible. They had no smoke flares, no medical supplies, and no way of getting back to the camp...

* * *

Blackness.

Just pure blackness was all the titan-shifter could see. Then...

"Eren? Can you hear me?"

"Eren, Please wake up..."

Two voices called out to him, both sounding as if they were on the verge of tears. Eren's emerald eyes slowly opened to see the two blurred but familiar figures crying and trembling above him.

"Ar...min...Mi...ka...sa?" his voice was weak and raspy.

The two stopped crying and looked towards Eren, their eye's widened when they saw he was awake.

"Eren...h-how do you feel?" Armin asked

"Hor...I...ble" Eren coughed a few times after saying this. Armin continued applying pressure on the wound with his jacket. The bleeding lessened but something wasn't right...

"Eren, Why aren't you wounds healing?" Armin asked, "S-shouldn't your titan powers be healing you wounds?" Eren pondered for a bit...

"My powers... they aren't working... I don't know why... but when I tried to transform-" Eren suddenly went into a coughing fit. He covered his mouth as a red liquid was being hacked up from his throat. The wound in his stomach began to bleed-out. The last thing he saw was the concerned look on his friends faces.

* * *

(Time skip)

Eren's head was now resting on Mikasa's lap. She gently stroked his dark hair. Armin was beside her, clasping Eren's unbroken hand for comfort. Tear marks were visible on each of their faces, but Eren's steady breathing ensured that he was okay... for now anyways.

After a while a horse appeared. Because the horse had lost it smoke signals, they decided that Armin would go to find help and Mikasa would stay and watch after Eren. They were hiding in an abandoned animal burrow that had been dug underneath a tree.

After some time Eren began to stir in his sleep. His eyes opened slightly and noticed someone was missing.

"W-Where's Armin?" he managed to say.

"We managed to get a horse and he left to find help." Mikasa answered. Eren nodded as if to say 'okay'. His body trembled and he curled closer to Mikasa.

"Eren, what's wrong?" Mikasa asked. The boy continued to tremble

"I-I'm just a l-little cold" he replied. Mikasa lifted his head up slightly.

"Mikasa, W-what a-" Eren began to say, bit his sentence was cut short when he felt a warm, red fabric being wrapped around his head.

"Here..." Mikasa said soothingly, "It's warm, right?"

"Yeah" Eren replied as he snuggled into the scarf, "T-thanks."

* * *

Meanwhile

"JEAN? CONNIE? SASHA?" Armin Called out "ANYONE? HELLO?" He was having no luck whatsoever finding the others. It would be dark soon, and he didn't have any sort of lantern on him. he'd need to find them soon, or he'd be heading back without help...

Suddenly something sent Armin flying. He didn't have time to react and landed in a tree, getting knocked unconscious in the process. A titan grabbed his limp body. It brought him closer to it's mouth.

Someone sliced into the nape of the titan. Another grabbed Armin's body. A third flew by behind them.

Sasha, Connie, and Jean had saved him.

"You were supposed to wait for my signal!" Jean scolded

"Jean, that titan was about to bite his head off, what else were we supposed to do?" Connie argued

"You think He has any food with him?" Sasha asked setting Armin down

"I doubt it," Jean stated, "His horse is definitely dead though."

"Mourning for you cousin, Jean?" Connie asked jokingly. Jean let out an annoyed groan before bringing his attention back to Armin. He didn't seem to injured, maybe a minor concussion, but nothing too serious. He began to shake Armin's shoulder.

"Hey, Armin... wake up!" Armin slowly opened his blue eyes.

"Jean? Connie? Sasha? *groan* what happened?"

"You nearly got eaten by a titan," Sasha told him

"A few more seconds it'd have chewed your head off..." Connie added

_"_hey, you seen Mikasa anywhere?" Jean asked.

"Yeah," Armin answered, "She's with Eren."

"You found him? Where are they?" Armin pointed towards the way he came.

"do you guys have medical supplies? Eren's really hurt and his powers aren't working." Jean whistled for they're horses and they set out.

* * *

**A/N my first AoT FanFiction, i'll post part two sometime in September if I can find time to write after school starts.**

**Eren somehow lost his powers, I'll explain this a in the next part as it's linked to this theory I have...**

**-8Bits**


	2. Eren II

"Wait, so Eren said that he couldn't even transform?" Connie questioned.

"Yeah," Armin confirmed, "Though, I'm not sure how bad the circumstances were... he went into a coughing fit after he told us this," Armin's eyes began to water as the scene replayed in his head, "H-his wound, bleed out... w-we thought he was going to-"

"Armin, Calm down," Sasha said in a concerned voice, "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to." Armin quietly responded with a nod.

He began to think about that promise they'd made the day he had found his grandfathers book. He thought about how happy Eren was whenever they talked about the outside world... He thought about how badly Eren was injured when he'd left him and Mikasa.

_'Is he going to be alright?'_Armin though. The blond reached into his pocket and pulled out a small gold key, the key that one day will open Erens' basement in Shiganshina. He twirled it in front of his face.

_'Everything is going to be fine,' _he told himself, _'Mikasa is with him... If anything happens, She'll be able to take care of it..._

_Right?'_

**(Short time skip)**

"Hey Armin, does anything look familiar?" Jean asked. Armin snapped back from his thoughts and looked at his surroundings. A stray 3DMG caught his attention.

"Um, Yeah," Armin answered, "Th-they shouldn't be too far from-"

"WOAH! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE?" Connie suddenly exclaimed, "Hey guys, Come check this out!" Sasha, Jean and Armin walked to where Connie had been talking about. A giant tree had been completely destroyed, Its remnants lying where its stump would have been. Armin's eyes were wide with horror, Jean quickly noticed this.

"Hey, Armin... Something wrong?" He asked the blonde. Armin just continued to stare at the pile of rubble. His body was trembling.

"Th-this is where they had been hiding," Armin told them, "there was an animal burrow under this tree..." Everyone just stared at the wreckage, wide-eyed and concerned...

"So, then...they're..." Sasha began, but she couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence. Armin fell to his knees, each eye full on sobbing. His teammates. began comforting him.

Suddenly, Some of the debris began to shift. Armin walked over to the moving rubble and began to dig through it. Eventually, an arm appeared moving branches from the pile. The blonde knew who it was right away.

"Mikasa! Are you alright?" He asked the raven-haired girl.

"I'm alright, Armin," She answered, "Eren's a bit shaken up, though he'll be fine. We were lucky that the burrow didn't cave in..."

"Is that... Armin?" a Raspy voice called out. Mikasa dissapeared back into the burrow, Armin following behind her. The blonde knelt down next to the source of the voice.

"Hey Eren, H-how do you feel?"

"Kind of c-cold... And a little tired," the brunette answered, "but... better th-than earlier." Armin brushed some of Erens' hair away from his face. He noticed that he was wearing a fimiliar red fabric _'She must have given that to him,'_ the blonde thought to himself.

"Hey! Is everything alright dow there" Jean shouted from above ground.

"Yeah! We're fine!" Armin shouted back. A few minutes later, the others came down with medical supplies and began to bandage Erens' wounds.

"Soo... Looks like you've seen some action, eh Eren?" Connie asked as he splinted Erens' arm.

"Yeah, What exactly happened to you?" Jean questioned.

"Some of it is fuzzy...but this is what it remember..."

* * *

_"Heichou? Mikasa... Armin!" The titan-shifter yelled as he zipped through the forest, "Is anyone there? HELLO?" Eren landed on a nearby branch, 'shit, I'm going to run out of gas at this rate...' he thought to himself. His thoughts shifted towards his options. If he stayed here, then he would most likely be found, but..._

_His squadmates... they could be in danger. His thoughts were interrupted by a series of loud Thudding sounds. He looked over to his side. _

_There was a small group of titans._

_'Heh, might as well kill some of these bastards while I'm here.' Eren thought. He launched his gear and managed to kill two of the titans in one blow._

_'Beat that, Mikasa!' he thought silently as he went for the third titan that was there. Though something seemed off about this titan..._

_It was just standing there, not moving. Staring directly at Eren and not doing anything... 'Is it stupid?' the brunnette though to himself...'Or...maybe its'...'_

_WHAK!_

_The titan had swung at him. Eren managed to swing out of the way in time. Unforunatly, his gas ran out from doing so. He hit the ground, landing on his arm hard enough to brake it. He grunted from the pain, trying his best not to cry out._

_'Okay, guess it's time to transform...' Eren thought as he extended his__ hand up to his mouth. He bit down, hard enough to penitrate the skin..._

_Nothing._

_He brought his other hand up to his mouth, ignoring the pain from the frature. He bit down once more..._

_Still nothing._

_The titan came closer. Without thinking, Eren detached his gear and wrapped the string that held the key to his basement around one of his blades._

_Then he ran, fast..._

* * *

"Th-thats all I can remember..." Eren finished, everyone staring at him in awe. "I-if Armin and Mikasa hadn't found me... I probably would be dead..."

"There's still one thing I don't get," Jean said, "Why can't Eren use his powers?" everyone pondered for a bit...

"The Injection..." Eren stated, "I got my powers from an injection...Maybe it wasn't Permenant...Like, when you get a Flu shot, Eventually you'll have to go back and get another..."

"You do?" Connie stated in disbelief.

"Yeah, my father would talk to me about medical stuff all the time...But, whatever he gave me on that day, it's starting to wear-off..."

* * *

**Aaaaannnnd Done with the second chapter...sorry for the long wait you guys!**

**Also: Please leave reviews, I'm still a new writer and feedback for my stories helps a lot!**

**-8Bits**


	3. Eren III

Jean stared off at the darkness in the night. It was his turn to be on watch for the night. He turned his attenton to the sleeping forms of his comrades. Sasha and Connie were dogpiled unto eachother, snoring like bears... Armin and Mikasa were snoozing quietly by Eren, practically cuddling into his undamaged arm.

He turned his attention back outside, sighing. A lot was going through his mind right now. Though more than anything, he was mad...

Eren was supposed to be an advantage...A weapon that they would use to take back the wall. And now, his powers don't work.

_'Many have died trying to take this wall back...' _He thought to himself, _'Many died trying to protect Eren... Was it in vain?'_

"Can you see this...Marco?" he murmered, "Can you see the shit we have to deal with right now?"

"I don't want their deaths t-to be worthless either..." a Quiet voice spoke up. Jean looked over his shoulder to see a not-so-asleep Eren staring right at him.

"You should be resting in the condition you're in..." Jean told him.

"C-can't sleep..." Eren said weakly, "Penny for your thoughts?"

"Go to sleep, Jeager..."

"Since when d-do you care... Horseface?" Jean Squirmed apon hearing his 'nickname'.

"I only care about weather you die or not..." The Copper blond coldly stated, still looking straight at him

"Hey, Jean..." Eren began, "If we encouter any titans on the way back... I want you to keep an eye on these two." The brunett gestured towards Armin and Mikasa. Jeans eyes widened.

"Wha-"

"Please, I'm trusting you here... I don't care if you have to...d-drag them out of a hoard of titans a-and leave me behind...just , don't let me be the cause of their deaths... I've already g-gotten enough people killed as it is..." Eren had signs of greif in his voice. His eyes looked a little droopy and watery.

"Alright," Jean sighed, "If that happens, I'll see to it that they get out safely...

And, also... I'll keep my eyes on them if you die..." Eren grinned slightly, closing his eyes as he did.

"Th-thanks..." He managed to whisper out before falling asleep. Jean stared back outside, into the darkness.

The group had awoken a few hours later and set out on horse back. They had to double up on horses, but they managed.

Armin and Connie rode on one horse, Mikasa and Sasha on another, and finally Jean rode with Eren.

They were almost out of the forest... after that it would just be a matter of getting back to the settlement where the rest of the regiment were. They would be able to bandage his wounds more efficiently there-

_**ROOOOOOOOAAAAR!**_

A loud roar rang into everyones ears. Jean looked behind him. There was a 15 meter class, and a crawler by the looks of it, heading straight at them.

_'Shit...this is not good.' _Jean thought, _'Mikasa and Armin are out of gas, and we barely have any left as it it...' _He suddenly remembered the previous night. '_Somehow, Eren knew this was going to happen-'_

"JEAN," Sasha yelled, "IT'S RIGHT ON TOP OF YOU!" Jean looked upward. He was greeted by 2 huge pair of eyes, and 2 equally sized sets of teeth. The Crawler was to snap at them. The copper-blond swerved his horse out of the way, Sending the Crawler into a nearby tree. The 15 meter titan wasn't shaken by the change of direction and followed them.

"Connie, Sasha! Get them back to camp!" He yelled before he and Eren dissappeared amungst the trees. Mikasa and Armin had been watching.

"We have to help them!" Mikasa stated.

"Yeah," Armin agreed, "Jean only has a small ammount of gas left, they'll never make it

"They're going to be fine," Connie assured them, "Just keep looking ahead!"

"But, Eren-" Armin began.

"Don't think about it!" Sasha told them. Jean had told potato-girl and buzz-cut about his and Eren's conversation...

_"Mikasa is one of our strongest," Jean told them, "and Armin is the best stratigest the military has ever seen... Eren know that, He doesn't want them to die quickly because he wasn't able to stop them from trying to protect him... I'll ride with Eren, Connie you'll keep your eyes on Armin, And Sasha will be taking Mikasa. If we encounter any titans at all, You two need to speed up your horses. If worst comes to worst and we get seperated, Get them to the camps. No matter how much they beg you to go back and find me and Eren, Got it?"_

They were going to have to trust Jean's word for now. Connie and Sasha increased their speed and continued towards the camp.

* * *

**FINALLY! I thought I'd never finish this...**

**I'm posting this in History class...Shhhhhhhhhh!**

**-8Bits**


	4. Eren IV

Jean wasn't sure what to think. His horse was out of sight, Eren was out of sight. Nothing but a giant face was there to greet him. His gear lay a few yards away, probably still intact. But he knew he'd never reach it, he was already in the grasp of the beast.

_'Is this really it?" _He thought as he dangled above the beasts mouth, _"Is this how I'm going to die?"_

* * *

**(Time skip)**

Mikasa and Armin stared at the direction they came from. No sign of Eren, or Jean for that matter.

"You think they're okay?" Armin asked. Mikasa didn't answer, she just kept staring off in the distance. Waiting, Hoping for them to appear safely. Sasha walked up to them, Connie right behind her.

"Corporal Levi said that you two should come back and rest..." She said, slightly concerned. Armin got up, pulling on Mikasa's sleeve.

"We should head back," Armin told her, "There isn't much we can do right now." Mikasa allowed her friend to pull her towards the camp.

Loud footsteps echoed into Her ears. She turned around. Jean was running towards them, carrying something in his arms. Behind him, the same 15 meter titan from earlier.

Jean tripped over something, stumbling to the ground. The titan was looming over him. Mikasa prepared to launch her gear at the giant, but someone had already beaten her to it.

Blood spurted from it's nape, and the titan fell to the ground with a thud. Someone on top of it. Levi looked over to the amber-haired soilder, his usual stoic expression on his face.

"OI! What the Hell were you thinking, bringing a titan near the camp?" He scolded, "Do you have any idea what could of-" Levi stopped mid-sentance when he saw exactly what Jean had been carrying. The raven haired male sighed...

"I-I tried to-"

"I don't want to hear any of your excuses, Brat. Just... Take him to the corpse wagon and wrap him in blankets." And on that note, the short corporal left the scene.

Jean tried to avoid making eye-contact with his comrades, at the same time trying to hide the corpse he had in his arms. He didn't what them to see him, not like this...

However, Mikasa walked up to Jean.

"Jean, who is that?" She asked. She already knew the answer to that question, but she didn't want it to be true. Armin walked up beside her...

"Jean, What happeened?"

* * *

_The titan released Jean, sending him donwards into its giant mouth. The solider tried to stop himself from slipping down the moist throat. He knew his efforts were usless, he knew he was going to die, so why did he even bother at this point?_

_Something grabbed Jean and tossed him out of the mouth. The amber looked up._

_"EREN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" He yelled._

_"Jean,You better keep that promise you made..." Was all the brunette had time to say. The titan clamped down its jaws, forcing Erens body in two. His top half landed near Jean._

* * *

"...After that I grabbed what was left and ran." He finished, "I'm sorry... I was too careless." Sasha and Connie stood there in shock, Armin was trying to hold back tears, and Mikasa looked towards the ground. Her scarf covering part of her face. Jean walked away with Erens corpse.

Mikasa sat down and hugged her knees. Her memories of Eren flooding into her mind all at once. She couldn't be there to protect him when he needed her the most. She'd never hear him laugh or complain or talk again...Never see his face...

Never see her family again.

Tears uncontrollably spilled from her eyes. "Eren..." She wimpered to herself over and over again.

Armin ran up next to Mikasa and wrapped his arms around her, tears pouring out of his eyes as well. She didn't pull away, she knew he was trying his best to comfort her. But...

Eren was gone...Nothing could change that now...

* * *

(Extended Ending)

Eren opened his eyes, groaning at the bright light. He looked around, from what he could tell he was in a grassy field. He stood up and walked in a random direction. After a while someone came into his view. He waved his arms to try and get the persons attention.

"Hey! Excuse me sir!" The man looked in his direction and immediatly ran towards him, a woman not far behind him.

The man and woman had wide eyes and looks of disbelif on their faces. Eren observed the duo. He had a strange feeling of rememberance...

Then it hit him. He knew who they were. Eren was soon running at full speed towards them.

"MOM! DAD!" He yelled. The brunett shortly felt arms wrap around him in a warm embrace, one that he hadn't had in a long time. They stayed like this for a long time.

"It's too early," Carla stated, "You shouldn't be here yet."

"I'm Sorry..." Eren said sadly, "I'm sorry..." Girsha gave out a small chuckle.

"Welcome home, son..."

* * *

**Well, that escalated quickly...**

**Also this is now a continuous series of deaths and sadness.**

**I have Spoken!**

**-8Bits**


	5. Mikasa I

Mikasa collided with the glass at an alarming speed. Pain shot up her leg as she landed on it in an odd position. Then she couldn't even feel anything, aside from the large hand that grasped her body. The titan successfully pulled her out of the building, bringing her closer to it's giant, blood-stained mouth.

"MIKASA!" Someone shouted. There was a flash of brown and green. Eren, no doubt. The shifter hastily cut into the giant's neck. However, as it was killed, the grip the monster had on Mikasa loosened. The raven-haired girl fell, crashing into the ground. Yet, she managed to avoid hitting her head.

Eren ran over to his sister, a slight limp in his step. "Are you okay, Mikasa?" He asked, concern filling his voice.

"I'm fine," She insisted. The girl began to stand up, only to fall back down. She grasped her ankle.

"Here, let me see it." Eren said as he reached to take her boot off. Mikasa, however, pulled away.

"Eren, I'm okay, really."

"Just...Let me see it, please." Relunctantly, Mikasa allowed her brother to check her foot. He quickly took note of how it was bent irregularly.

"Can you move your toes?" Eren asked.

"No." she panned.

"Mikasa, I think it might be broken. I'm gonna take you back to the wagons, you're in no condition to-"

Eren suddenly felt himself being shoved. The brunett heard a series of crashing sounds, almost like a building had...

Collapsed.

Eren quickly sat up and looked in every direction. Thick dust clouded his vision.

"Mikasa?" ...no answer, "Mikasa! Where are you? C-Can you hear me?"

"eren...eren..." a frail, quiet voice spoke. The brunnet looked around frantically, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Mikasa!" he called out once more.

"eren...o-over here...eren..." The dust began to settle. Eren looked over to see a large pile of debris, an arm extending outwards from it. Eren rushed iver and pushed the lighter pieces of rubble aside. Eventually, he could see her face, blood oozing from a cut on her forhead. Mikasa looked upwards, her grey eyes meeting his emerald ones.

"e-eren?'

"Mikasa, just hold on, I'm gonna get you out." Eren bit down on his hand, hoping to transform. Instead he was met with pain, blood dripping from the puncture.

"Mmf, Why isn't it working? Dammit!" Eren tried to shoot his 3dmg wires. Maybe someone was nearby... The gear clicked, but nothing happened.

_'What?' _Eren thought, _'Is it broken? Of all times-"_

He heard Mikasa let out a few hoarse coughs and looked over to her. She was clearly trying to hide the pain she was in. The weight was probably crushing her bones, so why was she hiding it? Eren didn't know...

But he knew that he had to get her out, Fast.

* * *

**Umm, I was gonna finish this , but I figured I've left you guys waiting long enough since I haven't been updating a lot... I don't even have a good excuse, I was just in my room listening to Starbomb for like 2 months...**

**Also 'Mine Forever' will be updated soon, I just have to fix this one seen that seems kind of awkward at the moment..**

**EDIT: I've been asked if I Will continue the plot of the first 4 chapters. Eventually, Yes. Probably for Jean or Armin... But some stories fall unto their own arks. And also I have something planned for the ending of this one...(evil grinning)**

**-8Bitz**


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